Basic Magical Self-Defense

So I think there's a good few people who have walked right up to the line of the occult, but haven't stepped over it. Anyone who has fallen down a conspiracy rabbit hole and suspects some of the richest people in the world practice the occult; anyone who's taken mushrooms and got a sense of just how much more there is to life, or DMT and met beings they don't understand; anyone who's lived in a haunted house, or still does, and didn't know what to do about it but believes wholeheartedly in their own lived experience; anyone who has dated a practitioner of the occult and pissed them off... There are a ton of ways you can be introduced to metaphysical phenomena, and chances are most people are completely unprepared.

I have a couple of quick tips that I want to give to people in any of those or similar situations, so you're not the person making every dumb decision in the horror movie. There are some basic tools everyone can get to grips with pretty quickly that can help to get a bit of peace of mind. In my opinion, this stuff is good to know in the same way it's good to have some basic physical self-defense skills. You might never need it, but it doesn't do any harm to have it on-hand just in case. These practices are also mostly just good for your mental health, and good practices that can help to fight interior demons such as paranoia, stress and existential dread. You don't have to take my word for that, you can just try them and see if they make you feel better for yourself. All I ask is you don't just write it off because of some preconceived notion of what is "real" or not. Approach it like an actual scientist. See for yourself.

Smudging and/or smoke cleansing - you've probably seen it or heard of it, people usually use sage or palo santo, but to be honest any fragrant smoke will help you feel better if you come under some kind of attack, from either external or internal sources. I would prefer people to use strong antimicrobial plants such as eucalyptus or frankincense, and depending on the situation some herbs may be better specialised for that particular thing than others, but you can't go too far wrong with smudging, to be honest. Plus it smells purdy.

Sonic aides - drums, bells, singing bowls. Sound is also another great way to clear the energy of a room. It vibrates everything, and in most countries around the world it is used to both chase away and invoke spirits. I personally prefer the singing bowl, they're a highly therapeutic instrument and their sound just pushes out all the bullshittery. It's nearly impossible to feel bad while playing a singing bowl. You can also just bang a wooden spoon against a pot if you're home alone and something starts fucking with you. Even if it's yourself. Whatever helps.

Jars and other wards - this is getting a little more technical, but there are ways to ward your house against spirits and malevolent energy. Common ones include sprinkling salt at all your doors and windows, hanging a stone with a single hole through it (hagstone) near your entrance, washing your floors with a combination of banishing herbs, smudging the entire house regularly and loads more. Another common enough one that people may have heard of is a Witches Jar - which serves the purpose of a trap for anything sent from a distance. You bury a jar in your garden, or one at each main entrance to your home, and inside of it you put rusty nails, broken glass and bits of mirror, and some piece of yourself, like fingernails or hair (yes you can piss in it too). The idea is this small fragment of yourself confuses the incoming attack and it goes into the jar instead of into you. It's a ten minute craft project and you can take it or leave it, but there's a reason they dig these things up all over the world, from all eras.

This is the fourth article in my series of blog-posts-that-are-actually-reposts of content I posted from my phone before I figured out blogging - I'm nearly up-to-date, just for anyone not familiar with me from instagram, I also have a job and am at college atm so sorry for sporadic uploads - and if you want to keep in touch with me, have some decent conversations about the occult and metaphysical concepts in general please do visit my coven's open forum - https://courtoftheibis.com